After claiming four South African titles in April, Bernette Beyers has spent the past month and a half continuing
her development at the UCI's World Cycling Centre in Aigle,
Switzerland. As part of her ongoing development the 24 year
old lined up at the Coupe de France Fenioux Piste, last
weekend, her first ever UCI C1 event. With the field including
former world champion Becky James, and top 20 ranked sprinters
Katy Marchant, Virginie Cueff, Tania Calvo as well as Hyejin
Lee and Lisandra Guerra it was her biggest challenge to date.

In the sprint Beyers smashed her own South African Record,
lowering the mark by nearly half a second before going on to
finish eighth on the opening day. Day two saw further improvement as
she sprinted to third in round one of the keirin booking a
spot in the final, finishing sixth.

You have spent the past month and a half since the
South African National Championships training at the UCI World
Cycling Centre how has it gone?

My first month back at World Cycling Centre was probably my
hardest month of training up to date, considering I pushed
myself beyond my comfort-zone. Training with Lisandra Guerra
was just what I needed to set my standard higher. Being my
friendly competition in every training session pushing myself
too keep up with her, made me stronger and faster, considering
she's training for the Rio Olympics.

Coupe de France Fenioux Piste was your first ever UCI
C1 event heading in what were your expectations?

My expectations for the weekend was basically just holding on
for life, hoping it will pass quickly and learning as much as
possible. My coach Scott Bugden and Lisandra kept telling me
that there were no expectations for me going into the race and
that I have to enjoy it and see it as a good racing
experience. But saying that, made me more nervous then before.

There was a strong field with the likes of Becky
James, Virginie Cueff, Katy Marchant and Tania Calvo were you
nervous about facing some of the top sprinters in the world?

To be honest being new in the field I did not know any of the
riders except Nicky Degrendele, Lisandra Guerra and Hyejin
Lee. Knowing that Hyejin was one of the world's top sprinters,
also training at the World Cycling Centre and Ross Edgar being
her coach. After the 200m qualifier I was confident at first
as I had a personal best in the qualifier. Then I took a look
at the times, at that moment my heart got stuck in my throat
seeing how fast these girls were... My facial expressions must
have been something out of a horror movie. To answer your
question being nervous was an understatement.

You set a new PB and South African Record of 11.358,
beating your old record by nearly half a second happy with
your time?

I'm super happy about my new SA record, showing that what I
have put into my training this past month paid off. I must say
part of breaking the SA record came from having an amazing
coach like Scott Bugden, that I'm so thankful for.

Won your round one repechage and went on to finish
eighth in the sprint happy with how you raced? Were you able
to see improvements on past competitions?

I won't say I'm happy about my eighth place, I need more
experience and technique when it comes down to match sprints. I
was not confident nor was I in control going into it and that
played a big roll in my position at the end. I learned my
lesson for sure and hopefully next time things will be a bit
difference as I gain some experience.

Made the keirin final and finished sixth what did it
mean to make it through to the final?

In the heat knowing I had a bit of a gap to close with one lap
to go and to try and pass two riders before the line to make
it to top three. It was a big surprise! I wasn't sure if I
made it, going over the finish line I could see Lisandra
and I was close for third place. Only about a few minutes
after my coach came to me with the good news. Being in the
final means I made progression, that made me happy.

What was the biggest challenge you faced on the
weekend and what is the most important thing you learnt?

My biggest challenge was defiantly riding in the keirin, I
have to be more aggressive and fight for good placing.
Honestly I was scared, bumping, pushing and wheels touching
gave me goosebumps and threw me out, as I haven't had such
experience yet. The thing I learned is not to be scared of big
gears, I had gears on I had never ridden before even in
training. It was a good test for me for my next race.

How important was the event and chance to race at the
top level in your ongoing development?

At first the race was not that important in the beginning, I
was hoping for more category two racing, only after the race I
realised that this is just what I needed physically and
mentally. I needed to know what top level racing is like.
Knowing what I learned after the weekend will change my
training strategies and make me stronger overall.

Next up you are racing Trofeu CAR Anadia Portugal at
the start of June are you able to take confidence from your
performances on the weekend in to the next event?

I will be more confidence in the choices I make, but me being
confident for the next race still makes me nervous. It will be
better, but I'm only human. I think every athlete tries to
work on their confidence, doesn't matter how many years of
experience you have.